The comments of Sky Sports pundits Ian Wright, Dennis Wise and Liam Rosenior have offered a different take on Leeds United's successful pursuit of Paul Heckingbottom from Barnsley.

Heckingbottom concluded his move yesterday as he traded a relegation battle at Oakwell for reviving Leeds ' hopes of a top-six finish, but it was the nature of his switch that prompted the debate.

The 40-year-old signed a new rolling contract with Barnsley just three days prior to completing his move to Elland Road.

But once Leeds came calling in the wake of Thomas Christiansen' departure, he performed a remarkable u-turn to infuriate the Tykes and leave them managerless as they fight to stave off the threat of going down to League One.

Read More

And despite the 17-point gap between the two sides, pundits including former manager Wise have queried Heckingbottom's decision to sign renewed terms at Oakwell so soon before moving to Leeds.

From a Leeds point of view, the club believe Heckingbottom is a notable coup for the club despite Barnsley's worrying league form which has seen them win just one of their last 15 fixtures.

But the Sky Sports pundits' focus laid elsewhere, suggesting they had never seen such behaviour from a manager around signing a new deal at a club before then completing a move away just days later.

Dennis Wise: I find it strange in those circumstances

"I can understand the attraction, Leeds United Football Club is a wonderful football club, a big club that needs to go places, I just can't understand what he's done.

Dennis Wise was critical of the manner of Paul Heckingbottom's departure from Barnsley (Image: Getty Images)

"In the way that he's done it to sign on the Friday and disappear and three or four days later, I find that very, very strange in those circumstances.

"I think to myself did he know beforehand?

"Sometimes clubs come along and they look at managers knowing that they are maybe getting rid of the other one and it happens in the world of football."

Liam Rosenior: Stability is needed at Leeds

"You don't want to point fingers but I think Riyad Mahrez should get the number off Paul Heckingbottom's agent!

"Sometimes these things come up and it's hard, you talk about loyalty in football with Mahrez and you have personal ambitions that you want to fulfil and maybe Paul Heckingbottom wants to manage the biggest club possible in his career at this time and Leeds is a huge football club.

"Huge football club with huge potential, as a manager there in terms of your timespan that you've got to work with a team, they need to have some stability at that football club if they want to get back to where they probably believe they should be.

"In the size of the club they should be a Premier League side, there needs to be some stability at that football club and if he gets that time in order to implement his processes, then he has a good chance of success there."

Rosenior: It's a chance for him to show what he can really do

"We played them for Brighton last season and they had a young team full of young i, hungry players who work hard for each other and a lot of those players have moved on by this season.

Read More

"When he took over from Lee Johnson in League One he went on a fantastic run to the play-offs and got them promoted.

"Not only did they get promoted, the next season they performed really well.

"They were in the top half of the Championship, pushing for the play-offs last year so in terms of what he's done with the budget that he's got, he's actually done a very good job.

"He lost a lot of players this season but he is still obviously well regarded by people in the game and it's a chance for him to really show what he can do at a big football club."

Ian Wright: He's putting himself on the line

"You say that but you've got Leeds and the way Leeds are currently, they are trigger happy.

"For him to leave Barnsley, which obviously they love him and he done great for them like we are just hearing, to go to a place that is so volatile in the way that they sack managers...

"He's given up a lot in respects of his love for Barnsley and what the Barnsley fans will think of him.

"I'm not sure what they do think of him right now.

"To go to Leeds, a place where it is pretty unstable itself in the way that they treat managers, I think he's taking a big chance there and we all know it's a massive club, I suppose it's worth trying to take the chance but I think he's put himself on the line."

Wise: He needs to be successful at Leeds

"It is but he's got to be successful and very, very quickly.

"I can see why the Barnsley owners are so frustrated, he has brought six players in as well.

"And they're his players that he's brought in, can you imagine those players that are sitting there now?

"Brought in by the manager and all of a sudden he's left and when you sit with the players and you talk with them and you say to them you want to earn trust from the players you say I brought you in for this reason, this is what I am going to do, this is how I am going to work it, this is how you're going to play and I want you."

Wright: First time I've heard something like this

"I think this is the first time I've heard something like this, a manager signing a contract at that stage and then leave four days later.

"Unbelievable."

Rosenior: Something bigger is happening with managers in the Premier League and Championship

"Not just clubs in the Championship but the lower half of the Premier League, there's that scramble now for all of the wealth and the promise land of being in the Premier League and teams scrapping for survival, scrapping for promotion.

"And I think if you look at the departing managers, most of them in the Premier League are in the bottom half of the Premier League, a lot of those Championship managers are at teams... you look at Garry Monk at Middlesbrough leaving for Tony Pulis, they are clubs that are trying to get into that next level.

"And I think the funny thing for me is that teams with consistent success are teams with stability, they're teams with a long-term plan and a long-term process and way of doing things.

"I look at Lee Johnson's Bristol City this year, the fact that Steve Lansdown has stuck with him and you look at their performances against Manchester City.

Bristol City have flourished in 2017/18 under Lee Johnson (Image: Getty Images)

"Managers need time, they need time to implement their way of playing, they need time to build a culture around the training ground, what they want day in, day out and as players that's what you need as well.

"You need to know that your man is in charge of the football club because if you know that after three or four games that he could be undermined and out of a job it just creates...

"We spoke about Chelsea earlier, infrastructure, having a way of playing, having a way of recruiting... it's so important in terms of success."

Rosenior: Transfer strategy can go out the window

"I'm delighted to not only play under [Chris Hughton] but to learn from, he's a fantastic manager.

"If you look at our success at Brighton, the manager has been at the club for two and a half years.

"We all know what's expected of us day in, day out on the training ground and it shows on the football pitch, you need 11 players to know what's expected of them and you can't have that if you have a new manager coming in every four or five months with different ideas, different ways of playing.

"And also your transfer and recruitment strategy goes out of the window.

Read More

"Paul Heckingbottom has brought in six players at Barnsley, the new manager could come in in a few days' time and say I don't want these players.

"Stuck on long-term contracts, you can't get rid of them.

"It's just a bad thing for every club that's involved in that situation."

Wright: Championship teams are becoming desperate

"It's the teams that are trying to get into the promise land who are saying listen we can't afford to wait around.

"That's why you will get rid of a young, aspiring manager like Garry Monk and you will get Tony Pulis.

"Tony Pulis is proven to do that, he's done that and so the desperation now is not just people in the Premier League who are desperate to stay in there but the desperation is going into the Championship now for the people that want to get there.

"So now I think we are going to see a lot more of that where the managers are changing around because they want to get them into the Premier League."

Rosenior: There has to be a long-term plan in place

"The amazing thing is... what's next?

"You get promoted with a short-term strategy, that's great and you get all of the wealth for one season, what's the long-term plan?

"Are you going to be a yo-yo club?

"Are you going to change manager every year?

"There's not enough of a long-term strategy in it and in terms of players' development and in terms of growing football clubs... I look at Swansea as a perfect example.

"When Martinez took over at Swansea they had a way of playing, they came up through the leagues and ever since, I know Carvalhal's just come in at Swansea, but in the last two or three years they lost that identity and in terms of losing that identity, they lost games at the same times

"We need to have more of a long-term strategy in our recruitment of players, coaches and managers and it's about time we started looking at that."

Wise: Leeds want to go up... quick

"I think Burnley have got it spot on with Sean Dyche, I think what he's done there and what he's achieved as they went through a yo-yo period and now he's got stability, they've always stuck by him.

"When he's come down, he's gone up - he's signed a new deal, he wants to stay there, he was linked with a few clubs before... he made it quite clear he wanted to stay at Burnley.

"And do you know what you've really have to respect that man.

"This is what I think is really important and that's the only thing about what's happened at Barnsley that I find very difficult is it seems that they gave him the job, believed in him, wanted him there.